Miller: Puig already has an All-Star profile

It was during Yasiel Puig's second major league game, after his eighth career at-bat had resulted in his second home run in two innings, that we first heard someone say, "Put him in the All-Star Game."

The line was uttered in a baseball press box, where, to be frank, good ideas often can be found curled up in the corner, shivering and dying from neglect.

Well, here it is, not even four weeks later, and we're about to repeat a line that originally sounded like a silly exaggeration.

Put Yasiel Puig in the All-Star Game!

We don't care if there are grass stains that have been around the National League West longer than he has.

We don't care if, just a month ago, he was toiling in Chattanooga, where it isn't baseball that's played expertly but banjos.

We don't care if he signed just one year ago Saturday, so unfamiliar with the Dodgers then that he didn't even know the team's colors or who Tommy Lasorda was.

So the guy is still shy of 100 major league at-bats? We don't care about that, either, because we've already seen enough.

Puig is an All-Star by every measure but time served. He has been his team's best player. He has turned into a fan favorite. He has displayed a flair for great theater. He has become the most interesting player in his sport to watch.

The people who run baseball love to sell the notion that their All-Star Game is for the fans, a Christmas-in-July gift for the customers. Why do you think you're allowed to pick the starters?

Well, Puig is simply the most fan-friendly player in baseball today. If his name appeared on the ballot, do you honestly believe he wouldn't be voted in to start July 16 in New York?

Imagine him coming in to pinch-hit, in the late innings of a tight game at Citi Field, representing the go-ahead run. There wouldn't be a more watched at-bat all night.

Statistically, there certainly are more deserving National League outfielders this season. But you're kidding yourself if you claim you'd rather see, in that pinch-hitting situation, Carlos Gomez?

"This guy, there's only one of him," said Logan White, the Dodgers' vice president of amateur scouting. "He's a very special person and he has a chance to be a very special player."

The All-Star Game and the swirl that surrounds it is an exhibition right up until the final out – when the winner, foolishly, determines home-field advantage in the World Series.

San Francisco's Bruce Bochy, who will manage the NL stars, made headlines last week when he was asked about Puig's candidacy and said, "Generally, guys that go to the All-Star Game are guys that have a great first half, not a great three weeks."

Tellingly, though, Bochy then added, "If you ask me a week from now, I may say I've changed my mind."

Who knew the gap between Week 3 and Week 4 was such an enormous one when selecting All-Stars? Bochy, a smart man who has been around baseball almost as long as spitting has, was giving himself room to wiggle.

Remove all the stats and now ask yourself this: If you were putting together a team to take on the American League, wouldn't you pick Puig? Keep in mind that last season, the NL All-Star roster featured nine outfielders. In 2011, there were 10.

"If he fulfills his potential, we'll look at this and say what a great deal it was," said White, who signed Puig to a contract – seven years, $42 million – that was mocked by many. "It's so early in the process, but it looks like it can head in that direction, and that's exciting."

The All-Star rosters will be announced July 6. By that point, Puig still won't have enough at-bats for some people. Those people should open their minds, however, and allow themselves to think outside the box, the batter's box.

Puig's game can't be contained by that small chalk-line rectangle. Nor can his impact. He has transcended his sport with this debut and deserves the most special of consideration.

Besides, this isn't a perfect process. Plenty of undeserving players have been voted to start past All-Star Games. And, in the most recent 2013 polling update, 897,181 votes had been cast for Josh Hamilton.

"When I look at him, I see a diamond, so very, very, very precious," longtime Dodgers coach Manny Mota said of Puig. "All he needs now is to be polished."

The polish definitely will help, but even that's unnecessary in this case. Yasiel Puig is shining enough right now, enough to be classified a star.